I’ve had the chance to review a few games I think are pertinent to Tech’s upcoming tilt versus the new-look Seminoles. While it’s always hard to pin down a new coach and a new scheme based on old games and the milquetoast nature of a spring game (especially since they’ll be starting a surgically patched and potentially rusty QB in Deondre Francois) I think I’ve got a bit of a grip on what to expect in Tallahassee.

Offense

New head coach Willie Taggart coined the phrase “Gulf Coast Offense” to describe his approach, and it’s stuck. You’ve seen the basics before and in great quantity. Think back to 2016 with Jerod Evans, and you have a pretty good picture. These squads ran all the basics of the run-focused spread-option gun:

• Zone runs: Zone-scheme runs where the line steps in unison to the play side while the running back looks for a weak spot in the defense
• Zone reads: Zone-blocked option runs where the QB can give or keep
• Power runs: Gap-scheme runs where most of the line blocks away from the play side while one guy pulls in order to open up a specific gap
• Power read: The same as above, but someone is optioned to give the QB a give/keep read
• QB power: Same as power, but the QB keeps the ball all the way
• Counter: Like power, but this time two guys pull (usually a guard and tackle, or a tackle and TE/HB)
• QB counter: Same as above, but the QB is the runner all the way
• Iso and Draw: Man-blocked runs where the offense tries to win one-on-one blocks
• Toss read: A bit like power read, but the QB has a quick toss to the runner instead of a mesh; Clemson burned Tech on this in the ACC Championship Game in 2016
• Sweeps: These usually pull from all three kinds of blocking (man, gap, and zone) but as you already know, they look to get lots of bodies on the edge for wide runs
• Speed option: Zone-blocked play where the QB and TB run to the same side, with the QB having the option to pitch the ball away

The screen game was built out of the run game with Screen/Pass Options, and the pass game built out of the run game with RPOs and play-action going to the usual route combinations and the usual dropback game.

An interesting take on Taggart from the Oregon junkies at fishduck.com is that he’s a cerebral X’s and O’s guy who has an ability to act out of character as a rah-rah Dabo Swinney type. He seems like the type to be the play-caller for his team, and if that’s the case the consensus among observers (one supported by the plays I watched) is that he’s a run-first coach who is (fairly or unfairly) branded as too conservative. His new offensive coordinator, Walt Bell, seems to have a little more swagger in his presentation, but like Taggart he prefers to keep things simple; last year versus Texas, for example, he had his Terps run the basic inside zone play 21 times for 260 yards. Now that’s consistency.

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